Capetown and Kruger

We have been on the move since the last entry and have seen more of this lovely country. On the drive along Cape Peninsula we visited Simon's Town and the penguin colony at the Boulders. We drove through the wine making region and visited the town of Stellenbosch as well as the Spiers winery. On our last full day in Capetown, we finally had the weather conditions needed to visit Table Mountain. The geographical beauty of this country is awe-inspiring and Capetown truly is a magnificent city. We were also able to visit Robben Island. The tour was conducted by a former prisoner, one of the students from the 1976 Soweto riots. Seeing the Island and the conditions for the inmates through the eyes of a prisoner added so much to our understanding of those historic times. The message our guide imprinted on us, which he asked us to take with us, was that he hoped that the lessons of Robben Island is one of reconciliation, understanding and forgiveness - lessons that Nelson Mandela impressed on the world.

We then visited Kruger National Park for 3 days. It would be too long for me to list the animals we saw, but it included elephants, rhinos, wildebeests, Cape buffalo, kudum waterbuck, etc. We were fortunate to have two very exciting experiences with elephants and rhinos.

Today we visitd Soweto - yet another highlight on a trip filled with highlights. Soweto is nothing at all like the picture depicted by western media. We visited the sites of the 1976 riots and the musuem of Hector Pietersen - the first student killed in the protests against the Government's policy of enforcing Afrikaans on the African students. Hector was 12 at thr time of his death. We also visited the Mandela family home. As we were walking in to the house, Winnie Mandela was just leaving. When you hear the full story of Winnie Mandela you get a much better understanding of the suffering this woman has endured for South Africa.

Tonight we're off to Fordsburg which is wall-to-wall Indian restaurants, stores, videos etc. Apparently it's a wonderful experience of smells, sound and culture with cars triple parked and sidewalks jam-packed.

Tomorrow's our last day and I can assure you that it will be a parting filled with many wonderful, warm memories and many tears.

Early next week I'll do a special entry on food. South African culture is steeped in hospitality and the cornerstone ifs food. Needless to say I've put on weight and I'm too afraid to step on a scale.

Finally, there is a wonderful Afrikaans word "lekker". Lekker can mean many things and is dependent on context. For example, you can have a lekker (tasty) curry, you can lekker (fun) weekend, a girl may be considered lekker (pretty), etc. In short we had a baie (very) lekker holiday!!!